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Universal Music Group (UMG) is the largest Business Group and family of Record Label s in the Recording Industry . With a 25.5% market share, it is one of the Big Four Record Labels . It belongs to the French conglomerate Vivendi SA . UMG's record labels have many of the world's biggest artists Universal Music Group - Artists including Tupac Shakur , Wisin & Yandel , Latin Fresh , Rammstein , The Killers , Don Omar , Def Leppard , Bon Jovi , Elton John , Method Man , Luny Tunes , Jay-Z , Maroon 5 , Keane , Mariah Carey , T.A.T.u. , Eminem , Dr. Dre , 50 Cent , G-Unit , Diana Ross , Hector El Father , Luciano Pavarotti , U2 , Blink-182 , Kanye West , Rihanna , Bone Thugs-N-Harmony , Lindsay Lohan , Black Eyed Peas , Nelly Furtado , Tokio Hotel , Notch , Nelly and Gwen Stefani . UMG now owns the largest Music Publishing business in the world, the Universal Music Publishing Group , (after their acquisition of BMG Music Publishing in June 2007). In the United States UMG is located in Santa Monica, California , and New York City, New York along with Universal Music Group Nashville ; in the UK the group has a number of offices in London and Romford . Vivendi's headquarters are in France , in Paris . HISTORY "Universal Music" was once the music company attached to Film Studio Universal Pictures . Its origins go back to the formation of the American branch of Decca Records in 1934 . MCA bought American Decca in 1962 . The present organization was formed when its parent company Seagram purchased PolyGram and merged it with Universal Music Group in 1998 . However, the name first appeared in 1996 when MCA Music Entertainment was renamed Universal Music Group. With the 2004 acquisition of Vivendi's Vivendi Universal Entertainment by General Electric 's NBC , Universal Music Group was separated entirely from its film studio namesake for the first time. In February 2006, the group became 100% owned by French media conglomerate Vivendi SA when Vivendi purchased the last 20% from Matsushita , the group's sole owner from 1990 to 1995 and co-owner from 1995 to 2006. On September 6 , 2006 it was announced that Universal Music will purchase BMG Music Publishing (to become Universal Music Publishing Group ), for €1.63 billion ($2.1 billion), subject to regulatory approval. {Link without Title} LABELS Universal Music Group owns, or has a joint share in, a large number of Record Label s, including: Interscope-Geffen-A&M Interscope Records
Geffen Records
A&M Records
The Universal Motown/Universal Republic Group
The Island Def Jam Music Group Def Jam Recordings
Island Records
Mercury Records Roc-A-Fella Records
So So Def Recordings
Universal Music Classics Group
Universal Music Group Nashville
Verve Music Group
Machete Music
Sanctuary Records
Stand alone labels
Independent labels distributed by Universal Music Group
Labels outside of the USA
CONTROVERSY Pay for play In May 2006, an investigation led by New York Attorney General Eliot Spitzer concluded with a determination that Universal Bribed radio stations to play songs from Ashlee Simpson , Brian McKnight , Big Tymers , Lindsay Lohan and other performers working for Universal labels. The company paid $12 million to the state in settlement. 1 iTunes On July 2 , 2007 , the New York Times reported that Universal would not be renewing its contract with Apple allowing the sale of its artists on ITunes . Instead, Universal was reported to be seeking an "at will" contract instead of an annual one, allowing it to pull its music from iTunes at will. 2 This report has been denied by Apple, who says they are "still negotiating" with Universal. 3 Universal has since stated publicly that they will not sign a new long term contract with Apple, preferring to go month by month instead. 4 Also, they announced on August 9, 2007, that they would sell DRM -free music through a variety of online vendors, including the newly-created GBox , but not including the ITunes Store .5 REFERENCES EXTERNAL LINKS
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